Eat, Drink and Be Scary
by SageK
Summary: Halloween is fun for all children, right?
1. Chapter 1

Over the course of her long and…interesting life, Dr. Helen Magnus had developed a sort of sixth sense that told her when she was being watched. It had served her well, saving her from the lethal machinations of enemies on more than one occasion.

Today it simply told her that someone was staring at. Looking up, she smiled when she noted the shock of wild, brown hair and two big, green eyes peering at her from around the doorframe.

"Hello, Henry," she greeted her 12 year old ward warmly. "How was school today?"

Stepping into the room, Henry, still in the navy blazer, white shirt, red tie and grey pants that made up his school uniform, gave her a little smile. "Good," he replied, answer typically brief, though she knew something had to be on his mind, as he usually ran for his room to change the moment he got home.

Though he'd made excellent progress with all aspects of his education, Helen had enrolled him in school this year to help him socialize and acclimate to a noisier, more populated environment than the Sanctuary. His teachers were all pleased with his work, but found his verbal reticence an issue and placed him in a special speech class. More than anything, Henry seemed pleased by that development, as it got him out of the overcrowded classroom for an hour everyday and Helen decided just to let things be instead of going to the school and informing them that he did not have a speech impediment, he was simply quiet.

As he made his way towards her desk, Helen noted the small envelope held in his hands. The last time he'd brought a note home from school, it was because his teacher had noticed he was refusing to eat at lunch time. Helen had taken one look at what the school was calling lunch and found she couldn't blame the boy for his taste. Henry brought a bagged lunch from home after that and there had been no further problems. "What do you have there, dear?"

He handed the envelope to her before saying, in a rush, "Danny and Molly from school are having a Halloween party. They invited me. Molly's in speech with me too. She stutters, but she's real nice and said I could bring Ash. They have a little brother her age."

For Henry, this was quite a lengthy speech. It was also the first time he'd shown any sort of interest in spending time with his classmates. She felt it was her duty to encourage such things.

"That sounds lovely," she said, which made the boy grin. Flipping open the invitation, which looked like a black cat, she read:

_**Danny and Molly**_

_**Want to invite you to a Spooktacular Halloween Party!**_

_**Scary Monster Theme**_

_**Saturday, October 30th**__**, 3pm-7pm**_

_**RSVP 555-1949.**_

"Can me and Ashley go?" He asked, clearly hoping she'd say yes.

"May Ashley and I," she corrected automatically, then nodded. "Of course. I think you'll have lots of fun."

He nodded, then asked, "What do you think they mean by Scary Monster Theme?"

That question made her chuckle. She supposed that, as a little werewolf who knew full well that vampires were long extinct, had childhood bed time stories read to him by Bigfoot and often played hide and seek with Steve, a large lizard man, Henry's idea of scary differed from that of other children his age. The same could be said for Ashley.

"Think of something scary," she advised the boy, who thought for a moment before nodding.

"Those big trucks with all the wheels and the loud horns." he said it so seriously that Helen actually felt terrible for not being more specific. Clearly, he was still harboring some phobia of large automobiles, something she thought he'd conquered.

She supposed it was the noise. His ears were rather sensitive and she still grimaced when she remembered a day, only a month after Henry had joined them, when Bigfoot had decided to vacuum the living areas. The moment the machine was flipped on, Henry, who had been playing with a Lego set, bolted from the room and it had taken Helen nearly an hour to find the child.

Noise still made him anxious, but it was manageable now.

Patting him on the arm, she said, "I was thinking more along the lines of horror movies…perhaps a mummy or that unhappy fellow in the hockey mask."

He nodded and said, "I'll let Ash know. Maybe Brian can help with ideas."

"That's a marvelous idea," she agreed, handing him the envelope. Brian was her current protégé and far more pop culture savvy than she. "Would you like me to RSVP for you or are you going to do it yourself?"

Henry's relationship with telephones was one of great distaste, but he simply said, "I'll do it."

Yes, Helen thought, this will be an excellent thing for the children to experience.

TBC….

Comments, pretty please? And any opinions on what costumes the kids should wear?


	2. Chapter 2

The next day was Friday the 15th, two weeks before the big Halloween party. Helen was just finishing up an intake interview with a Cruatopode named Django when Brian caught up with her, grinning manically.

"Hey, Helen, you have to see this," the man said, clearly amused. "I brought over some horror flicks for the kids to watch and…well, look!"

He'd led her into his office and pointed at the computer, where he'd pulled up the feed from the security camera in the den.

Henry and Ashley were sitting on one of the couches, wearing flannel pajamas and holding bowls of popcorn, probably supplied by Bigfoot. Nearly in his teens, Henry was beginning to show signs of an amazingly healthy appetite and Helen wondered where the slender little fellow put it all.

Neither child looked scared in the least. In fact, both were peering at the screen, bemused and vaguely puzzled. After a moment, it became clear that Brian wanted her to listen to their commentary rather than see anything they were doing.

"God, what is wrong with these people?" Ashley asked, high, bright voice clearly incredulous.

Shaking his head, Henry replied, "She's clearly too stupid to live."

"No! Don't go up there without a gun, there's some crazy person killin' people!" the little girl crowed, showing far more sense at seven than any of the many disposable people that populated Horror movies.

"Not everyone has a gun," Henry reasonably pointed out before stuffing a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "This movie blood is so much less icky than the real thing."

Pouting, Ashley said, "It looks fake. And what's with the fog? Do they live in a swamp?"

"How do they not hear that huge guy moving around? He's as big as the Big Guy and that house is old. The floors would creak."

"Not everyone has super hearing, Henry," Ashley teased, earning a glare and then a nod conceding her point. "Is she going out looking for the killer alone?"

They were quiet for a moment, clearly contemplating the character's stupidity until Ashley demanded, "Why does she keep tripping over nothing?"

In Brian's office, both Helen and her protégé found themselves roaring with laughter. It wasn't often that Helen found herself so utterly amused.

Several days, and a glut of bad movies later, the children came to her with their costuming decision, which frankly surprised her.

In the end, both Ashley and Henry had chosen to eschew any of the more modern movie monsters, deeming them 'silly and not very scary at all.' Henry's choice of Frankenstein's monster (he was very adamant on the distinction) was fairly easy to handle and a costume was purchased. Ashley had gone with Morgan le Fay, and, after much searching, had settled for a slightly funky little witch costume.

Though Helen knew she was a bit biased, she thought they had to be the most darling things she'd ever seen.

TBC….

Comments, pretty please?


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, cool Frankenstein costume."

After hearing variations of that line 4 or 5 times, Henry had stopped bothering to correct anyone. Clearly, his classmates weren't familiar with the specifics of Shelley's masterpiece. He was also sure no one had any clue who he was. "Thanks," he said simply. "Scary Vampire costume."

The boy bared his fake fangs and wandered off. Ashley leaned towards him and asked, "Did you really think that costume was scary, Henry? 'Cause…."

"Be nice," he told her softly, knowing she had a very limited grasp on the concept of tact. "Not everyone is like us."

Nodding sagely, she went back to surveying the room and quietly snorting in disgust at the 'scary monster' costumes.

"Hi, Henry."

He turned to see Molly, probably the only person in his class that actually knew his name. "Molly, hi….Um, who're you supposed to be?"

The girl patted the bodice of her fancy dress and said, "The W-w-wicked Queen from Snow W-w-white."

Not exactly his idea of a monster, but he suppose the Queen was evil. Ashley peered at her and announced, "I'm Ashley."

"Hi," Molly said to her with a smile. "Have you met B-b-bobby? He'd dressed as a P-p-p-power Ranger. Not a M-monster."

Ashley gave her a patented Magnus look and asked, "Who's Bobby and why do I want to meet him?"

Heaving a sigh, Henry said, "He's Molly's brother and he's your age."

She simply looked at him, clearly wondering why that should make her want to meet the boy, but thankfully she kept that opinion to herself.

"W-w-want to see the spooky lab?"

Considering where they lived and the fact that, more than once, Henry had stumbled in on an autopsy, he doubted the spookiness of Molly's dining room, but he nodded. "Okay."

Allowing Molly to lead them in, Henry quickly realized this was where the vaguely nauseating smell of a variety of foods was coming from. Tomato, spagetti, jello, grapes, some of them mixed together…yuck.

"Welcome to my lab!" A woman, probably Molly's mom, said. She wore a lab coat splattered with red dyed Caro syrup and rubber kitchen gloves. "Here I study the insides of monsters who have misbehaved. Stick your hands into the jars and feel their organs."

This was all vaguely insulting, but Henry mustered up a smile and stuck his hand into a jar that read: HEART. It was a peeled tomato. Ashley was rooting around in the jar of EYEBALLS, a heavy frown on her little face. Before she even opened her mouth, Henry knew what was going to happen.

"What kind of moron thinks a peeled grape feels like an eyeball?" she asked no one in particular, causing Molly's mom to give her a funny look. Henry hoped that was the end of her rant and Molly actually giggled behind them.

"I think it's lame too," she said, then smiled at Ashley. "Want to get some c-c-candy or a cupake?"

Henry really should have known better, but he was eager to get away from both the smell of the nasty jars and Molly's Mom, so he let her lead them to the snack table, where Ashley began grazing with gusto. At the Sanctuary, Doc Magnus and BigFoot were both strong believers in the idea of a healthy body leading to a healthy mind, so candy was not something that found its way into their diets. In fact, processed sugar was more or less banned.

So of course Ashley attacked the sweets when they were offered to her.

A half hour later, smears of chocolate all over her face, Ashley was gleefully sucking down her third soda when a boy dressed in a werewolf costume (So very, very insulting) jumped at her and yelled, "Roar!"

_What the…werewolves do not roar…oh crap_.

Not at all frightened, Ashley snatched up the ladle out of the punch bowl and whacked the boy over the head. "You are not a werewolf! Stop purplating a stereotype!"

Moving quickly, Henry managed to wrestle the weapon out of her hand before bodily picking her up. "Lemme at him, Henry!" she yelped, squirming in an attempt to get down. Everyone watched as he carried her out the front door to sit on the stairs to calm down.

Since she had, in her own way, been defending him, Henry couldn't find it in himself to be too annoyed. Plus, she was probably so high on sweets, she couldn't be held accountable for her actions. "Ash, calm down," he said, sitting them both down. "It's fine, really."

"No, it's not!" she wailed, then said, "I don't feel so good."

He barely got her leaning over the edge of the stairs before she puked up a whole lot of candy and soda. Behind them, he heard Molly's mom stepping out onto the porch. "Oh no, are you okay sweetie?"

After Ashley finished, Henry sat her on his lap and let her lean against him. She hated throwing up. "I think she ate too many sweets," he told the woman as he patted Ashley's back. "Could you call home for us?"

She nodded. "I suppose too much sugar might explain her little outburst in there.""Yeah," Henry agreed. "That and her inexplicable affinity for werewolves."

Tossing him an odd look, Molly's mom retreated to the house to make the call, so she didn't hear Ashley murmur, "Not inexplicable, Henry."

"I know," he told her, giving her a gentle hug, Other people might not understand their…interesting little family, but they always had each other.

* * *

Comments, pretty please?


End file.
